Speed-governing system.



'No. 676,739. Patentd June 1a, 190:.

' s; s; EKMAN.

SPEED GOVERNING SYSTEM.

(App lica tion filed 1m. 7, 1901. (No Modem 2 Sheets-Sheet l.

' Pat entedlune l8 8. S. EKMAN. SPEED GOVERNING SYSTEM.

2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

(No Nodal.)

(Applicltion filed 7, 1901.)

lllblll lnlllllllllll...

74M @Gwvu' UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SVEN S. EKMAN, OF PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

SPEED-GOVERNING SYSTEM.

s'rnorrroerrolv formingpart of Letters Patent No. 676,739, dated June 18, 1901. Application filed March 7, 1901. Serial No. 50,153. (No model.)

To LLZZ whont it many concern Be it known that I, SVEN S. EKMAN, of Pittsburg, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Speed-Governing System, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which-- Figure 1 is a diagrammatic front elevation of my improved governing system, and Fig.

' 2 is an end elevation showing the connections.

My invention relates to the governing of prime movers, and is designed to provide mechanism which will control the, motor in such a manner as to maintain it-at a practically uniform speed under varying'loads, avoiding some of the unfavorable influences due to common arrangements of speed-governors.

The invention is specially applicable to the,

line, and in this connection it is advisably designed to control the mean speed of the whole system of engines by connecting the forceregulating devices-for instance, the knockod cam-for the diiferent engines together, thereby securing a practically identical regulation of the work delivered by the difierent engines, and by connecting the force-regulating devices for all engines to one centrifugal governor directly connected to a synchronous alternating-current motor driven by the main electrical current from the dynamos.

In the drawings, in which I show one form of my invention applied to an alternatingcurrent system, I show two alternating-current dynamos 2 2, eachof which is mounted on a shaft 3, aotuated'by a compound steamengine having two cylinders 4; 4. Each alternating motor delivers the current through connections ct a a to the general line B B 13 From the. general line connections 0 c 0 lead to a synchronous alternating-current motor 5, which is mounted to rotate upon a vertical shaft, to the upper end of which is secured a governor 6. This governor may be of any desired type, and I have shown the same as of a centrifugal ball type, having a collar or sleeve 7, the motion of which is adjusted by the speed and consequent centrifugal power of the balls, This sleeve is con-r nected by a lever or other suitable connection with a rock-shaft 8, which extends past each engine and is preferably mounted in bearings su pported thereon. The connections between this rock-shaft and the cut-off mechanism for each engine are illustrated in Fig. 2. As

while on its lower end is provided a hand-- -wheel 18.

By turning the hand-wheel the bell-crank 10 and the knock-off cams may be adjusted as desired.

In the operation of the system if the load on the main line B B B should be increased the engines and dynamos will begin to slow down; but as the current sent through the line B B B is an alternating one and the motor for the governor a synchronous one this motor 5 must follow the mean speed of the engines, and consequently actuate its governor correspondingly. Thus as the load increases the speed of the governor is lowered and the rock-shaft 8 is rocked thereby. This rocking of the shaft through the connected lever system swingsthe knock-off cams to give a longer cut-off, and all the engines are submitted to a simultaneous and equal change in the cut-0E. The speed of the engines is thus governed and kept uniforrnand one engine is prevented from producing more or less Work than the other engines spontaneously on account of unavoidable difierences in the action of separate governors.

If one or more engines are running and another is to be started on the same line, the hand-wheel 8 of this engine is turned so as to force up the bell-crank lever 10 into the position shown by dotted lines in Fig. 2, thus giving a very short cut-off. In this position of the bell-crank lever the motion of the shown therein, at each engine the shaft is ated until the current is the same as for the other engines. v

The governor proper may be of any desired I type, whether directly acting by its own force or indirectly by means of external force, mechanical, hydraulic, or other force; whether pure centrifugal governor orinertia-governor; whether pendulum-governor or fly-wheel governor or other arrangement; whether pure weight-governor or spring-governor; whether directly connected to the shaft of its motor or driven by means of belt, gearing, or other connections with the motor;" whether in governing the-speed of oneprinie mover only or of a plurality of prime movers; whether acting alone or acting in combination with other speed-governors-or speed-governing systems.

.The motor driving the governor may be of any kind',-whether a synchronous alternatingcurrent motor or a steam-engine or a gas-englue or a turbine or any other kind, and this .motor'may be used exclusively for driving the governor or simultaneously for producing electric currents for the main line or used for any other purpose,- and the speed of this motor may be controlled from any suitable alternating electrical current,- whether taken from the main line or froma special dynamo or from any other line or produced specially for this purpose. This alternating current may control the speed of the motor driving the governor in any way, whether by means of asynchronous alternating motor or dynamo or by means of any other known method to control the speed of a motor by means of the single motor or of a plurality of motors, and

the controlling motion may be transmitted from the governor to the motors in any way, whether by means of a rocking shaft, by means of hydraulic connection, by means of wire connection, or any other known method to transmit motion or force from-one place to another. The governor may act on the cutoff of a steam-engine or on a throttle-valve or on a mechanical or electrical brake or on any other known device for changing the speed of a prime mover.

The. system may be connected with one single governor only or with a plurality of governors, and it may be equippedwith special speed-adj usting devices for one or for a plurality of the motors. These speed-adj usting'devices maybe operated in any way,

whether by hand directly orby means of mechanical, electrical, or anyv other power or by means of a special automatic governor, whlch may be of any kind, whether a common speedgovernor or any other known mechanical, hy-

draulic, or electric speed-governor device.

I consider myself the first to govern amotor by driving its speed-governor bymeans separate from the motor, the speed of this governor being controlled by, the number of alternations of an alternating or pulsating electric current.

The advantages of myinventionwill be apparenttothose skilled in the art, since the governor is not driven by the prime motor, the speed of which has to be governed, and consequently not bound to follow the speed of the same exactlygbut as thegovernor can be driven in any desirable wayby controlling its speed by a suitable alternating current; since a proper amount of rotating masses posed for periodical variations, and consegiven to the motor, driving the governor will quently the governor can be made more quick acting without danger of getting a hunting motion; since this advantage is still more obvious when the speed of the governor is controlled by the alternations'ofthe maincurrent froma plurality of dynamos, inasmuch as the periodical variations in question from the different dynamosin such a case may counteract each other, giving a current more even in this respect; since by using one governor for a plurality of engines the force deliveredlby the, engines is changed simultaneously and proportionally for all of them,causing them to act together and to change their speed simultaneously within permitted limits, thereby releasing the dynamos from an excessive reliance totheir power to control the speed of the engines driving them, as will be the natu-, ral result when the speed of the engines is g governed by separate governors not acting exactly simultaneously or not changing the force of the engines proportionally to their respective loads or when the governors are permitted to assume a hunting motion, which sometimes may happen to be opposite for different engines, whereby the cut-off may be lengthened for one engine in the same time as the cut-off is shortened for another engine; since a speed-adj ustin g device for each engine permitsthe adjusting of the speed of each separate engine even when the engines are running with diiferent loads, which allows the engines to be started one after the eve /s9 other; since a speedadjusting device for each separate engine permits the adjusting of a slightly-uneven action of the governor -when the engines are running; since this speed-adjusting device may be adjusted automatically for each separate engine, and since the speed of the governor may be controlled by the main current, which is identi- "cally thesame as to control the speed of the 10 governor by the mean speed of all engines even when the engines are distributed in a plurality of power-stations, in which case each power station is preferably provided with its own governor or governors.

It will be noted that the system is applicable only where the speed of the governor is controlled by the number of alternationsof an alternating or pulsating current and not Where the governor is driven by a direct-cur- I rent motor, as the speed of such a motor is influenced by occasionalvariations of the intensity of the electric current or by occasional variations of the load to be overcome by the motor and is by no means really controlled by the current, as the speed may change independently of the current.

I claim-- 1. A speed-governor for a prime mover, the speed-governor having connections for driving the same separately from the prime mover, the speed ofthe governor being controlled by the number of alternations of an alternating electric current; substantially as described.

2. A speed-governor for a prime mover, the speed-governor having connections for drivin g the same separately from the prime mover, the speed of the governor being controlled by the number of alternations of an alternating electric current, the alternations of which are synchronous with the motion of the prime mover, substantially asdescribed.

3. A speed-governor for a prime mover, the speed-governor having connections for driving the governor separately from the prime mover, the speed of the governor being controlled bythe number of alternations of an alternating electric current, the alternations of which are synchronously aifected by the motion of the prime mover; substantially as described.

4. A speed-governor for a prime mover, the speed-governor having connections for drivin g the governor by a separate motor or prime mover in connection with an alternating-cur- 55 rent electric motor or dynamo, the speed of which is controlled by the number of alternations of an alternating electric current; substantially as described.

5. A speed-governor for a prime mover, the speed-governor having connections for driving the governor by a separate alternatingcurrent motor or dynamo, the speed of which is controlled by the number of alternations of an alternating electric current; substantially as described.

6. A speed-governor foraplnrality of prime movers, the speed-governor having connections for driving the governor in connection with an alternating-current-motor or dynamo, the speed of which is controlled by the number of alternations of an alternating electric current, the dynamos providing this current being driven by the prime movers; substantially as described.

7. A speed-governor for a prime mover, having driving connections for the same, separate from the prime mover, the speed of the governor being controlled by the number of alternations of an alternating electrical current, and a rock-shaft connection between the prime mover and the speed-governor; substantially as described.

8. A speed-governor for a prime mover having connections for driving the same, separately from the prime mover, the speed of the governor being controlled by the number of'alternations of an alternating electric current, and mechanism for adjusting the speed of the prime mover by hand, independently of the speed-governor; substantially as described.

9. A speed governor for a prime mover having a separate motor arranged to drive the same, and alternating-current connections arranged to control the speed of the motor for driving the governor; substantially as described.

10. The combination with a prime mover, of a speed-governor connected thereto and a separate'motor or prime mover arranged to drive the speed-governor, the latter motor being controlled in speed by the number of alternations of an alternating electric current; substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

SVEN EKMAN.

Witnesses:

H. M. CoRWiN, L. M. REDMAN. 

